


My Soul Glorifies The Lord

by delicatelyglitterywriter



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Biblical References, Christian Character, Christian Elena, Christmas Eve, Christmas in space, F/M, Gen, Jewish Character, Jewish Daisy, Mild Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 18:09:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13105707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delicatelyglitterywriter/pseuds/delicatelyglitterywriter
Summary: Just because they're in space doesn't mean that they get to forget their religion and traditions. Daisy is adamant that they don't.





	My Soul Glorifies The Lord

It’s Christmas Eve.

Processing has been closed for the night, and Elena is laying face down on her bed. She wants to sleep, but finds she can’t. Her thoughts won’t stop racing, and are keeping her wide awake.

Frustrated that she can’t stop thinking about that one pesky thing, she sighs and gets up. There’s no point in trying to get to sleep if her body won’t let her.

She jumps slightly at the sound of a soft knock on her door.

“It’s open,” she calls, sitting back down on her bed. She doesn’t know who it is, but at this point, she doesn’t really care. She can’t bring herself to care about anything other than what she misses.

The door opens, and Daisy pokes her head in.

“Hi,” she says awkwardly. Elena acknowledges her with a nod. Daisy shuffles for foot to foot, as if weighing up how to say what she came to say.

“It’s Christmas Eve,” she says finally.

“I’m aware,” Elena states, trying very hard to keep the venom from her voice. It’s not Daisy’s fault that she misses her family and Christmas traditions, and doesn’t deserve to be snapped at.

“…Don’t you have that Christmas tradition thing?” Daisy asks carefully after a long moment. Elena’s head snaps up to face Daisy.

“What do you know about that?” she can’t help but almost growl.

“I, um, saw you telling Mack about it last year,” Daisy admits. “And then later I walked past you doing the thing and I just kinda…stopped and listened. It was nice.”

“Yeah,” Elena agreed, unable to stop her smile. It had been nice.

It had been a tradition her and her family had partaken in every year as she grew up, and it had been just as important as Christmas Day itself. It had admittedly been Elena’s favourite part of Christmas (aside from the presents and food, of course), and she knew it all off by heart.

Last year, however, she hadn’t been able to go back to her family and celebrate with them, having been kept busy by Shield, and she’d ended up in tears. It had been Mack who had found her, comforted her, and agreed to participate with her.

He’d also promised to join in every year after.

But then, of course, they’d been thrown across space and time. Elena was sure that he had more important things to worry about than keeping his promise.

“So, why aren’t you with him now?” Daisy wonders. Elena shrugs.

“He has his own problems. Why do you care so much, anyway? You’re Jewish.” The words are out of her mouth before she can stop them, and she covers her mouth. “I just meant…”

“Yeah, I get what you meant,” Daisy assures her. “And to answer your question: I care about it because you do.”

Elena manages a small smile, and shakes her head. “Is that why you came? To tell me to go to Mack?”

“Not exactly.” Elena looks back at Daisy who has produced some paper. “I came to offer to celebrate with you. I got the words for the songs from Mack, so I sing along, and Mack has a makeshift ukulele in his room, although we can do it A Capella if you don’t want to do it with him. And I was told that you know all the words to the story off by heart and so don’t need a Bible.”

Elena is lost for words. All she can think to do is jump up and throw her arms around Daisy.

“ _ Gracias _ .”

“ _ De nada _ ,” Daisy chuckles. “Now come on, Mack’s waiting. And we should probably do it sooner rather than later, so that you don’t walk into Processing tomorrow as a zombie.”

Elena laughs, swiping away a stray tear and follows Daisy to Mack’s room.

When they arrive, Mack smiles and stands up to welcome them in. “Good to see you, Yoyo. I was starting to think I’d have to celebrate on my own.”

“ _ El hombre tortuga no puede ni acabar la historia antes de que sea hora de levantarnos mañana _ ,” Elena teases, drawing a loud laugh from Mack. She sits down next to him and clears her throat, then begins to tell the story.

“In the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife, Elizabeth, was also a descendant of Aaron.”

* * *

 

**_An hour later…._ **

“So, what’s the tune of these songs?” Daisy asks, looking over the words again. Elena twangs a string, tuning the instrument in her hand.

“It is its own tune,” Elena answers. “But do not worry, you will catch on quickly.” 

“Don’t worry, Tremors,” Mack assures her. “You don’t have to sing if you don’t want-”

“I’ll join in,” Daisy interrupts him. Mack nods and the two quiet down as Elena plays the introduction to the song, and then begins to sing.

“My soul, my soul, my soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.”

As Elena sings, she notices Daisy sitting quietly, listening. It reminds her of the time of when she wa a child and still learning the song. She used to sit like that - legs crossed, lyrics clutched in her hand, her eyes wide, soaking in the beautiful melody. It was always led by her grandmother, who had the most wonderful voice. 

Elena sometimes wonders if she’ll have the same voice when she grows old.

Mack sings Zechariah’s Song the second time Elena plays the melody. Elena had always appreciated how the two songs fit each other, beat for beat. It was pleasant for the ear, and also held a deeper symbolic meaning for Elena. 

To her, it symbolizes how God’s coming ‘fit’ perfectly with humanity, in all its sinfulness, matching them ‘beat for beat’. And yet,  _ because _ it was God who had come, the ‘melody’ sounded sweet. It’s something deeply beautiful for Elena; something that couldn’t be simply be acknowledged by a passing thought, but something that requires deep meditation with a heart full of gratitude.

The third time through, Daisy joins in. Her voice is soft and unsure, but it’s there nonetheless. Elena notices that she stumbles a bit, but that’s to be expected. 

She remembers her first few times joining in with the song. She messed up many, many more times than Daisy was. It took her a fair few years to perfect it, but when she did, it was quite an amazing feeling. 

But Elena knows that this is probably the only time Daisy would ever be joining them, so she doesn’t hold Daisy to any standard. It’s just nice to have three people singing, rather than two. 

Elena always preferred three over two. It’s a staple of her faith in God, the Trinity. It’s also a symbol of strength for her; she always did like the verse that said that a threefold cord is not easily broken. To her; it represents the strongest bond there can be. 

The fourth, and final time, singing it through, Elena switches to Spanish. Her grandmother and aunts on her mother’s side would always sing in Spanish the final time. The uncles on her father’s side would also sing in Spanish. Everyone else would sing in English, and the children were allowed to choose which language they wanted to sing in. 

Most of the children opted for English, but Elena had always chosen Spanish. She still doesn’t know why she chose Spanish as a kid. But she thinks that it may have been because Spanish is her mother language. It just feels right to her that she should sing to God in the language he had gifted her with. 

After the song is finished, Daisy lets out a long breath, almost a sigh.

“You would do this every year?”

Elena nods, chuckling. “You’re thinking that you could not have possibly sit through that.”

Daisy grins, ducking her head abashedly. “I was a restless and active kid. No way would you get me sitting down for an hour and a half.”

Elena laughs and shakes her head, laying the ukulele down on Mack’s bed. 

“You would have loved church,” she jokes. “Two, three hours sitting in the pews.”

Daisy laughs along. “Yeah, no thanks.”

There’s a pause, and then Daisy asks, “So, what happened after you’d sung that?”

“Well, Ma would bring out the dinner that she’d spent the whole day making, and we’d all sit in a circle and eat. Then, my grandfather would lead everyone in various carols and hymns, right through until midnight, if you could last that long. Then we would either go to bed, or fall to sleep right there in the...uh, oh what’s the word?”

“Living room?”

“ _ Si _ , in the living room. When we woke up, we would all go to church together.”

Daisy nods, although remains silent. Her eyes are again downcast, and though Elena has an idea as to why she’s suddenly melancholy, she still asks.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just...it must have been nice having a tradition,” Daisy murmurs, fiddling with the strap on her boot. “Something you did every year.” 

“It was,” Elena admits. There’s no use lying about it. “And I miss it.”

Daisy nods again, and Elena wishes she could somehow turn back the clock and give Daisy some tradition she could have held onto as a child. But since that can’t happen, the best she can do is offer her a new tradition she can cling to.

“Maybe,” she muses, causing Daisy to look up. “Since I only kind of still have my tradition, and you never had one, we could start a new one together?”

Daisy sits up straight, clearly interested. “Like what?”

Elena shrugs, saying the first thing that comes to mind. “Monthly baking sessions?”

Daisy laughs, but nods all the same. “When we get back home?”

“ _ Si _ ,” Elena agrees. “When we get back home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to MariaVC on Twitter (@sometimscamila) for the Spanish translations.
> 
> For reference: “El hombre tortuga no puede ni acabar la historia antes de que sea hora de levantarnos mañana." translates to "Turtle-man couldn't tell the whole story in time to wake up for tomorrow"


End file.
